The ICU door didn't get kicked open.
The lock mechanism released with a weary click.
Heavy blast-proof doors slid apart on their own, as if some invisible authority had forcibly hijacked their control systems.
No antiseptic smell inside.
Only the acrid stench of burning electronics.
Million-dollar life support systems—ventilators, dialysis machines, heart monitors—had transformed into twisted scrap metal, electrical sparks dancing lonely deaths among the wreckage like dying fireflies.
The hospital bed sat empty.
Little Su floated in mid-air, her small frame suspended by forces beyond comprehension.
Beneath her pale skin, molten gold flowed like lava through her veins, blood vessels bulging like a human roadmap about to burst at the seams. The sight was both beautiful and horrifying—a child becoming something else entirely.
Behind her, a massive golden specter squeezed itself into her small frame like some cosmic parasite claiming new territory. The entity moved with deliberate malice, each inch of penetration accompanied by Little Su's unconscious whimpers.
Ancient.
Vast.
Carrying the cold indifference of a higher-dimensional being observing petri dish specimens.
Marcus "Fatty" Wang took half a step across the threshold.
*Crack.*
His kneecap exploded instantly.
Before he could even scream, his entire body flattened against the floor tiles like a frog under a hydraulic press, blood streaming from his nose and mouth in crimson rivulets that pooled around his head.
Lyra Qing's sword wailed in her grip, hairline fractures spreading across the ancient blade like spider webs.
Her face went ashen as she stared at the specter, recognition dawning with terrible clarity.
"Radiant Ancestor's remnant soul... at least Lv.80 spiritual intensity."
She tried channeling her spiritual energy, only to find it dead as stagnant water. The power that had carried her through countless battles now lay dormant, useless against this overwhelming presence.
Despair crawled up her spine like ice, each vertebra freezing in sequence.
"This is 'Soul Fusion'—he's irreversibly overwriting Little Su's consciousness. No one can save her. External interference will only shatter her soul first."
The floating "Little Su" opened her eyes.
No whites remained.
Only twin burning golden vortexes that seemed to contain the fury of dying stars.
Her voice carried countless overlapping echoes that made wall plaster rain down like snow:
"Mortals."
"Kneel."
"Becoming this seat's vessel for returning to the world is this flesh's fortune earned across lifetimes."
Divine pressure descended like a prison made of gravity itself.
Before such absolute life-tier suppression, human genetic instincts offered only submission. The very DNA in their cells screamed commands to prostrate, to worship, to surrender everything to this superior being.
Except for one person.
Ethan Su stood among scattered glass shards, each fragment reflecting golden light like fallen stars.
He even reached up to adjust his wire-rimmed glasses with methodical precision.
The lenses reflected blinding golden light, hiding the two blood-red ledgers frantically flipping pages behind his eyes—cosmic accounting books tallying debts that spanned dimensions.
He was checking his watch.
Precise movements, focused expression, as if calculating an overdue bad debt that threatened to bankrupt reality itself.
"Fortune?"
Ethan snapped his pocket watch closed with a crisp metallic click.
The sound wasn't loud, yet it cut through the divine rumbling with jarring clarity, like a needle puncturing a balloon.
"This... whatever Ancestor."
Ethan looked up, tone flat as asking an illegally parked driver about their permit: "You living here—got a residence permit?"
Time experienced a brief fracture, reality stuttering like a glitched video file.
The Radiant Ancestor floating above clearly didn't comprehend such low-dimensional language. His cosmic intellect, accustomed to worship and terror, struggled to process bureaucratic mundanity.
Confusion flickered across that blurred golden face, followed by furious mockery that shook the building's foundation:
"Residence permit? Laughable! All heavens and realms are divine pastures. Whatever flesh this seat fancies becomes this seat's palace!"
"So that's a no."
Ethan nodded with the patience of a tax auditor dealing with their thousandth evasion case, pulling a fountain pen from his suit pocket.
The world rapidly drained of color in his vision, leaving only black-white wireframes like architectural blueprints. Everything became data, measurements, assessable value—except for that golden mass marked with glaring crimson tags: **[ILLEGAL INTRUDER]**.
Little Su's body displayed as **[CORE FIXED ASSET]**.
"According to Universal Private Property Protection Act, Section 3, Clause 7."
Ethan drew a red line through empty air with his pen, reality bending to accommodate his will. A burning citation materialized from nothing, floating between them like a judicial decree written in fire.
"Unauthorized occupancy without 'property deed' and lacking owner permission constitutes—"
"**Illegal subletting**."
Lyra gripped her sword hilt until her knuckles went white, eyes wide with disbelief that bordered on madness.
*Insane.*
Citing property law to a possessing ancient evil god? Was he trying to die faster than humanly possible?
"Ignorant insect!"
The Radiant Ancestor's fury erupted like a solar flare, golden energy crackling through the air with enough force to melt steel.
The specter raised one massive hand, golden light condensing into a substantial palm print carrying the will to crush everything—mountains, cities, entire civilizations reduced to cosmic dust.
"Chattering pest! Die!"
Wind pressure swept Ethan's hair back, revealing eyes devoid of emotional fluctuation. No fear. No awe. Only the cold calculation of someone who'd seen gods bleed and found them disappointingly mortal.
"Die?"
Ethan sneered, snapping his fingers with the casual authority of someone calling a waiter.
**[SYSTEM RULING: EFFECTIVE!]**
**[TARGET: Radiant Ancestor (Remnant Soul)]**
**[CHARGES: Malicious Occupation of High-Value Assets]**
**[TAX TYPE: Property Tax + Illegal Occupancy Tax + Punitive Late Fees]**
**[CURRENT RATE: 1% Soul Essence Collected Per Second!]**
His finger fell like a judge's gavel.
Rules descended with the weight of universal law.
"Since you're undocumented, we'll charge by the second."
Ethan watched the giant palm about to crush his skull, lips barely moving as he delivered the death sentence:
"Current rate is... **your life**."
"Pay up."
*Hummm*—!
The massive palm froze three inches from Ethan's forehead, trembling with frustrated power.
Unable to advance another millimeter, as if striking an invisible wall made of crystallized authority.
The next second, inhuman shrieking nearly shattered everyone's eardrums, windows exploding throughout the hospital as the sound waves propagated outward.
"What... what is this?! My essence!!"
That invincible golden specter now resembled a bathtub with its plug pulled, divine power draining in visible streams.
Countless golden threads tore from his form, transforming into pure numerical torrents that frantically drilled into Ethan's body like hungry parasites finding a new host.
**[TAX COLLECTION SUCCESSFUL! Divine Soul Power Deposited!]**
**[EXP +10,000...]**
**[EXP +20,000...]**
**[Host Soul Intensity Increasing... Lv.15... Lv.18...]**
Ethan stood motionless like a human black hole, gravity bending around him as power flowed inward.
He was feeding.
Greedily devouring ten thousand years of divine accumulation, each mouthful making him stronger, more dangerous, more capable of challenging the cosmic order itself.
"You... what are you?!"
The Radiant Ancestor panicked, his ancient composure cracking like ice under pressure.
He discovered in horror that every second in this room, even breathing, cost him precious cultivation as payment! This wasn't battle—this was systematic asset seizure!
"Madman! This seat abandons this flesh!"
The Radiant Ancestor made a snap decision, attempting to sever his connection with Little Su and escape as flowing light.
*Come and go as you please?*
"Want to break your lease?"
Ethan stepped forward, his dress shoe pulverizing a floor tile into powder that scattered like cremation ash.
The violence in his eyes finally stopped hiding, becoming tangible killing intent that made the air itself recoil.
"Trashed my place, even damaged the wallpaper..."
Ethan extended his right hand, viciously grasping at empty air with fingers that seemed to bend space itself.
He touched nothing physical.
But he caught that causal thread—the invisible connection between predator and prey, between creditor and debtor.
"Leave the **renovation deposit**!"
**[VIOLENT COLLECTION MODE: ACTIVATED!]**
**[ADDITIONAL PENALTY: Emotional Distress Compensation!]**
"Get the hell... OUT!"
Ethan's arm veins bulged like steel cables, suit sleeve tearing as he yanked backward with savage force that defied physics!
"AHHHHHHH—!"
The sound of a soul being violently torn apart echoed through dimensions, a scream that would haunt the nightmares of anyone who heard it.
Under Lyra and Fatty's stunned gazes, that magnificent divine specter was dragged out of Little Su's body like a slimy slug—completely intact but utterly defeated!
"No!! This seat's ten thousand years of accumulated faith! I am divine! I am immortal..."
"You're a taxpayer."
Ethan coldly interrupted his final words with the finality of a closing ledger.
Five fingers clenched into a fist.
*BANG!*
Golden light exploded like a dying star.
Scattered light particles were forcibly compressed and refined by the system, finally forming a thumb-sized, crystal-clear golden gem that dropped into Ethan's palm with the weight of collapsed civilizations.
Little Su lost her support in mid-air, falling like a cut kite string toward the debris-covered floor.
Ethan's murderous aura instantly retracted, replaced by protective instinct.
He stepped forward, catching his sister with movements textbook perfect—like receiving priceless fragile porcelain that contained his entire world.
The hospital room returned to deathly silence, broken only by the settling of dust and the distant wail of sirens.
Fatty lay on the floor, forgetting his knee pain, mouth agape enough to fit two light bulbs. His worldview had shattered so completely he couldn't even process what he'd witnessed.
Lyra leaned against the wall, watching Ethan's back as her understanding of reality crumbled like ancient parchment.
*That was a god.*
*Just... demolished like illegal construction?*
"You..." Lyra's voice came out parched, barely a whisper. "You dare extort even gods?"
Ethan casually tossed the scalding crystal into his suit pocket, where it pulsed like a captured heartbeat.
"Watch your language."
He smoothed Little Su's disheveled bangs with infinite gentleness, not looking back at the devastation he'd wrought.
His tone remained flat as handling the most routine rental dispute:
"He was illegally subletting and attempted violent tax resistance."
"This kidney stone counts as his collateral."
The crystal in his pocket vibrated once, then twice, like a phone receiving urgent messages from beyond reality.
**[DING!]**
**[HIGH-DIMENSIONAL PATHWAY DETECTED!]**
**[ITEM: Ancient God Core Fragment (Purified)]**
**[ANALYSIS: This is the only key to "Second Tier: Multiversal Free Trade Zone."]**
**[NOTICE: You have qualified to leave the "Starter Zone (Earth)."]**
Ethan's eyes narrowed slightly behind his glasses.
*This fat sheep had been carrying an international passport?*
*Even saved on visa fees.*
The person in his arms stirred, eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings.
Little Su slowly opened her eyes, confusion clouding her features as consciousness returned.
Her gaze remained unfocused for several moments before recognizing that familiar face—the one constant in her chaotic world.
She sniffled, small nose wrinkling as she processed strange scents and sensations:
"Brother..."
"I think I just had a dream..."
Ethan's hand paused in its gentle ministrations: "What did you dream about?"
Little Su tilted her head with childish curiosity, uncertainty and inexplicable excitement mixing in her voice:
"I dreamed you took a glowing golden person..."
"And ate him raw with soy sauce?"
Ethan stared at his sister for a long moment, processing implications that stretched across dimensions.
Then he reached into his pocket, feeling the warm crystal pulse against his fingers like a second heartbeat—a god's final breath crystallized into portable power.
"Just a dream, Little Su."
But as he prepared to carry her from this place of broken gods and shattered certainties, Ethan couldn't shake the feeling that his sister had seen more than any mortal should.
The crystal pulsed again, and somewhere in the distance, reality began to crack.